correct terminal, completing the connection to the called party. Because the dialed digits from the subscriber were stored, and translated, there was no direct correlation required between the dialed number, and the actual location of the trunk(s) or subscribers on the switch itself. This meant that as new telephone exchanges were added, a translation could be updated to include the new exchange without expensive and time-consuming modifications to the telephone switch.

One of the first US patents filed for this concept was granted to